17 CFR 32.3 - Trade options.

(a) Subject to paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this section, the provisions of the Act, including any Commission rule, regulation, or order thereunder, otherwise applicable to any other swap shall not apply to, and any person or group of persons may offer to enter into, enter into, confirm the execution of, maintain a position in, or otherwise conduct activity related to, any transaction in interstate commerce that is a commodity option transaction, Provided that:

(1) Such commodity option transaction must be offered by a person that has a reasonable basis to believe that the transaction is offered to an offeree as described in paragraph (a)(2) of this section. In addition, the offeror must be either:

(i) An eligible contract participant, as defined in section 1a(18) of the Act, as further jointly defined or interpreted by the Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission or expanded by the Commission pursuant to section 1a(18)(C) of the Act; or

(ii) A producer, processor, or commercial user of, or a merchant handling the commodity that is the subject of the commodity option transaction, or the products or by-products thereof, and such offeror is offering or entering into the commodity option transaction solely for purposes related to its business as such;

(2) The offeree must be a producer, processor, or commercial user of, or a merchant handling the commodity that is the subject of the commodity option transaction, or the products or by-products thereof, and such offeree is offered or entering into the commodity option transaction solely for purposes related to its business as such; and

(3) The commodity option must be intended to be physically settled, so that, if exercised, the option would result in the sale of an exempt or agricultural commodity for immediate or deferred shipment or delivery.

(b) In connection with any commodity option transaction entered into pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section, every counterparty shall comply with the swap data recordkeeping requirements of part 45 of this chapter, as otherwise applicable to any swap transaction, and shall:

(1) Comply with the swap data reporting requirements of part 45 of this chapter to the extent that the commodity option involves at least one counterparty (whether as offeror or offeree) that has—

(i) Become obligated to comply with the reporting requirements of part 45,

(ii) As a reporting party,

(iii) During the twelve month period preceding the date on which the trade option is entered into,

(iv) In connection with any non-trade option swap trading activity; or

(2) For any counterparty that enters into one or more commodity options pursuant to § 32.3(a) in a calendar year that do not involve a counterparty described in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, file with the Commission by March 1 of the following year an “Annual Notice Filing for Counterparties to Unreported Trade Options” on Form TO, as set forth in appendix A to this part, to be completed and submitted in accordance with the instructions thereto and as further directed by the Commission.

(c) In connection with any commodity option transaction entered into pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section, the following provisions shall apply to every trade option counterparty to the same extent that such provisions would apply to such person in connection with any other swap:

(3) Subpart J of part 23 (Duties of Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants) of this chapter;

(4)Sections 23.200, 23.201, 23.203, and 23.204 of subpart F of part 23 (Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants) of this chapter; and

(5)Section 4s(e) of the Act (Capital and Margin Requirements for Swap Dealers and Major Swap Participants).

(d) In addition, any person or group of persons offering to enter into, entering into, confirming the execution of, maintaining a position in, or otherwise conducting activity related to a commodity option transaction in interstate commerce pursuant to paragraph (a) of this section shall remain subject to part 180 (Prohibition Against Manipulation) and § 23.410 (Prohibition on Fraud, Manipulation, and other Abusive Practices) of this chapter and the antifraud, anti-manipulation, and enforcement provisions of CEA sections 2, 4b, 4c, 4o, 4s(h)(1)(A, 4s(h)(4)(A), 6, 6c, 6d, 9, and 13.

(e) The Commission may, by order, upon written request or upon its own motion, exempt any person, either unconditionally or on a temporary or other conditional basis, from any provisions of this part, and the provisions of the Act, including any Commission rule, regulation, or order thereunder, otherwise applicable to any other swap, other than § 32.4, part 180 (Prohibition Against Manipulation), and § 23.410 (Prohibition on Fraud, Manipulation, and other Abusive Practices) of this chapter, and the antifraud, anti-manipulation, and enforcement provisions of CEA sections 2, 4b, 4c, 4o, 4s(h)(1)(A), 4s(h)(4)(A), 6, 6c, 6d, 9, 13, if it finds, in its discretion, that it would not be contrary to the public interest to grant such exemption.

Title 17 published on 2014-04-01

no entries appear in the Federal Register after this date.

This is a list of United States Code sections, Statutes at Large, Public Laws, and Presidential Documents, which provide rulemaking authority for this CFR Part.

The comment periods for the Aggregation Proposal published November 15, 2013, at 78 FR 68946, and for the Position Limits Proposal published December 12, 2013, at 78 FR 75680, will close on August 4, 2014.

17 CFR Parts 1, 15, 17, 19, 32, 37, 38, 140, and 150

Summary

On December 12, 2013, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”) published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “Position Limits Proposal”) to establish speculative position limits for 28 exempt and agricultural commodity futures and options contracts and the physical commodity swaps that are economically equivalent to such contracts. On November 15, 2013, the Commission published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “Aggregation Proposal”) to amend existing regulations setting out the Commission's policy for aggregation under its position limits regime. In addition, the Commission directed staff to hold a public roundtable on June 19, 2014, to consider certain issues regarding position limits for physical commodity derivatives. In order to provide interested parties with an opportunity to comment on the issues to be discussed at the roundtable, the Commission published notice in the Federal Register on May 29, 2014, that the comment periods for the Position Limits Proposal and the Aggregation Proposal were reopened, starting June 12, 2014 (one week before the roundtable) and ending July 3, 2014 (two weeks following the roundtable). To provide commenters with a sufficient period of time to respond to questions raised and points made at the roundtable, the Commission is now further extending the comment period. Comments should be limited to the issues of hedges of a physical commodity by a commercial enterprise, including gross hedging, cross-commodity hedging, anticipatory hedging, and the process for obtaining a non-enumerated exemption; the setting of spot month limits in physical-delivery and cash-settled contracts and a conditional spot-month limit exemption; the setting of non-spot limits for wheat contracts; the aggregation exemption for certain ownership interests of greater than 50 percent in an owned entity; and aggregation based on substantially identical trading strategies.

2014-05-29; vol. 79 # 103 - Thursday, May 29, 2014

79 FR 30762 - Position Limits for Derivatives and Aggregation of Positions

The comment periods for the Aggregation Proposal published November 15, 2013, at 78 FR 68946, and for the Position Limits Proposal published December 12, 2013, at 78 FR 75680, will reopen on June 12, 2014, and close on July 3, 2014.

17 CFR Parts 1, 15, 17, 19, 32, 37, 38, 140, and 150

Summary

On December 12, 2013, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“Commission”) published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “Position Limits Proposal”) to establish speculative position limits for 28 exempt and agricultural commodity futures and options contracts and the physical commodity swaps that are economically equivalent to such contracts. On November 15, 2013, the Commission published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (the “Aggregation Proposal”) to amend existing regulations setting out the Commission's policy for aggregation under its position limits regime. The Commission has directed staff to hold a public roundtable on June 19, 2014, to consider certain issues regarding position limits for physical commodity derivatives. In order to provide interested parties with an opportunity to comment on the issues to be discussed at the roundtable, the Commission will reopen the comment periods for the Position Limits Proposal and the Aggregation Proposal for a three-week period starting June 12, 2014 (one week before the roundtable) and ending July 3, 2014 (two weeks following the roundtable). Comments should be limited to the issues of hedges of a physical commodity by a commercial enterprise, including gross hedging, cross-commodity hedging, anticipatory hedging, and the process for obtaining a non-enumerated exemption; the setting of spot month limits in physical-delivery and cash-settled contracts and a conditional spot-month limit exemption; the setting of non-spot limits for wheat contracts; the aggregation exemption for certain ownership interests of greater than 50 percent in an owned entity; and aggregation based on substantially identical trading strategies.